Comments on: Enterprise Software Pilots in a Social Age

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:12:17 +0000

I totally agree with you that from a customer point of view there is great value in doing a broad scale “pilot”. The question I keep coming back to is whether or not you can get away from skipping the pilot altogether. Maybe we just need a new word for “pilot” in that case and I really like your word for it – it really is a “trial” at that point more than a pilot. In my mind there’s a stronger commitment from the customer in a trial than there is in a pilot.
Thanks for the comment!
April

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:06:25 +0000

LOL – yes that IS off-topic! I’d need to spend more time thinking about it and frankly, I haven’t spent enough time on Squidoo to have an opinion. On the surface it would seem like an interesting why for brands to get engaged but I agree with TechCrunch that the price point seems awfully high. I will add it to my list of possible future blog topics…;-)
April

By: Ed Cawthorne

Ed Cawthorne — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:04:58 +0000

I actually think the great thing about a trial for an Enterprise 2.0 software product is that to be successful, it **needs** the involvement of the wider community that will contribute content.
While time consuming to set up and get the community to be involved, if the product actually adds value to that community, the community will be up in arms when the trial ends and access to the software is removed- what more compelling reason is there to buy?

By: Stephanie Tilton

Stephanie Tilton — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:15:33 +0000

Do enterprise software pilots need to change? http://ow.ly/qE7W by @aprildunford

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:38:54 +0000

Well, I guess now we can all comment here http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/23/squidoo-aims-to-make-brands-pay-for-dedicated-web-dashboards/ However, you point of view as a thought leader in social media / marketing would be interesting, April.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:57:12 +0000

Hi April
Not related to this topic: It would be interesting to hear your point of view on what Seth Godin just did (http://www.squidoo.com) given that he does not enable comments on his blog, there really is no place to discuss this. Your blog would be a great platform to discuss http://www.squidoo.com
Cheers, Paul

By: Vincent Sortino

Vincent Sortino — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:30:29 +0000

Rocket Watcher: Enterprise Software Pilots in a Social Age: Pilot projects for enterprise software may have to c.. http://bit.ly/eDLh2

By: Larissa Gaston

Larissa Gaston — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:27:10 +0000

Interesting RT @aprildunford: Do enterprise software pilots need to change as software gets more social? http://bit.ly/I83ME #prodmgmt

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:28:05 +0000

Hi Peter,
That’s a good point – no vendor wants to do a pilot so if you can get them closed without one, more power to you. For certain kinds of enterprise software though, I don’t see it being avoided. CRM being the big example in my head.
Thanks for the comment.
April

By: Peter Hanschke

Peter Hanschke — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:47:14 +0000

Good post April. What’s worked for me in the past is to engage customers as early in the process as possible. This can be at the product level or at the feature level – whatever you feel requires customer engagement. If you can get them into the process at the concept stage and move them through storyboards, demos, hands-on, etc. then the odds of meeting the success metrics at the end of the project are pretty good – thus eliminating the pilot. The key is to have a network of customers willing to be engaged throughout the process and good two-way communication with them.
Other benefits as a result of this are that (a) customers are familiar with the new/improved feature/product, thus reducing the training requirements, and (b) reference customers may be quicker to acquire because they’ve (hopefully) fallen in love with what you’re delivering to them.